Page 365 of Cold Case, Warm Hearts

McCauley nodded. “I’ll pencil you in.”

They approached the tape, and she realized the cop was a familiar face. “Officer Hummet.”

“Special Agent Franklin.” Hummet nodded, all business. “Captain.” He noted their names in his logbook before lifting the tape so she could step under.

“Thank you.” Addie nodded and headed for the victim.

Hank stood over the body, talking with the ME. “Hey, Ad’.”

She lifted a hand but wanted to get a look at the body and not have to wait through an entire conversation before she got her questions answered.

“Our resident FBI agent?” The woman who looked up had red hair. She wore a silk blouse and black slacks under a heavy winter coat. Expecting to see heels, Addie found winter boots on her feet covered with booties to protect the scene from her tread prints.

Addie stepped back so the ME knew she wasn’t about to touch anything and contaminate the evidence any more than she did simply by being here.

She held a hand out. “Adelyn Franklin.”

“Sarah Carlton.” She removed a glove and shook Addie’s hand.

“ME. PhD. More than one, isn’t it?” Hank stuck a thumb in his belt.

The ME looked over at him. “And yet you turned me down.”

Hank said nothing.

The captain jumped into the conversation. “Now the introduction is out of the way, do you have a cause of death?”

The ME shifted in her crouch and worked her mouth back and forth as she considered the question. “There are no signs of drug abuse. There are indications she may have had a cardiac event or been strangled. I’m afraid I can’t pin this one down without a thorough examination.”

“Anything you can tell us about what she went through before she died?” Addie figured if the captain was correct and this guy had her for a couple of days, she might have been held somewhere.

The ME hadn’t even said the wordmurderyet.

Dr. Carlton tipped her head from one side to the other. “Signs on her wrists and ankles that she was bound. Looks to me like chains, but I’ll confirm that and the state of her treatment.” She glanced at Addie, who read her gaze.

Both wanted to know if the girl had been raped.

Addie nodded.

“What about the time of death?” Hank’s jaw had remained hard since that exchange with the doctor a moment ago.

Addie didn’t know if she even wanted to ask either of them what that had been about. She thought Sarah might be someoneshe could be friends with as well as colleagues. After all, they’d only just met and seemed to be on the same wavelength.

“This Rizzoli and Isles thing you guys have going on is cute and all.” Hank folded his arms. “But we need to find who did this.”

Dr. Carlton stood. Before she could say anything, McCauley motioned to the trees. “You need to take a walk, Maxwell?”

“No, sir.” Hank seemed to force out the words. “If we could have time of death, Doc?”

Carlton nodded. “Given the liver temp and the ambient, I’d say six to eight hours ago.” She looked at her watch. “So, somewhere between one-thirty and three-thirty this morning. But I should be able to narrow that down.”

“Thanks.” Hank strode away.

Addie wanted to talk more with the ME, but the information she needed would likely come after the autopsy. She excused herself and followed Hank.

Addie caught up just beyond the tape. “Hey,” she called out to him. “What’s going on?”

Hank slowed. He seemed to need a few extra steps to walk off whatever ran through him, giving him this edgy vibe.

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